Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling a fuel cell vehicle including a fuel cell and a load to which electric power is supplied from the fuel cell.
Description of the Related Art
With regard to the fuel cell vehicle, a technique of stopping idling operation of a fuel cell has been proposed (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-307758 (hereinafter referred to as “JP 2001-307758 A”)). JP 2001-307758 A is aimed to reduce unnecessary power generation in the fuel cell, and achieve improvement in the efficiency of an entire system including a fuel cell and a secondary battery (see “Abstract” therein). In order to achieve the object, in JP 2001-307758 A, depending on the magnitude of a required drive power, whether or not the fuel cell 20 and a group of fuel cell devices including periphery devices of the fuel cell 20 should be operated is determined. If the required drive power can be obtained by power generation of the fuel cell in a low load region which is equal to or less than a threshold power Xps, then operation of the group of fuel cell devices is stopped, and a motor 32 is rotated only by the remaining battery level Q of a secondary battery 30, and the vehicle is driven by the required drive power (see Abstract, FIG. 5, and paragraphs [0047] to [0056] therein).